It sounded like what you were trying to say was that anyone could have done the same thing once the 49ers switched to zone defense.

It's looking like the Giants have a very good chance of not making the playoffs which is honestly the only team I think the 49ers have to worry about. Atlanta and Seattle could be a challenge but Matt Ryan still has to prove himself in the playoffs and Seattle hasn't exactly been dominating good teams. Next weeks game will be very telling.

With all that said I expect the 49ers in the superbowl facing either Denver or the Patriots.

That's pretty unlikely though, since I believe you guys currently have the edge over the Cowboys. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think missing the playoffs after winning out would require any combination of the Vikings (@ Houston, vs. Green Bay) winning out, the Giants (@ Baltimore, vs. Philadelphia) winning out, and the Seahawks to win one of its next two (vs. San Francisco, @ St. Louis). I think the Vikings are unlikely to win out, less sure about the Giants.

Of course, the odds would be better if Seattle had one fewer win. The ultimate victim of Replacement Ref-Gate might be the Bears rather than the Packers.

The Giants would hold the tie breaker over the Bears if both win out and that would probably keep them in the 7th spot, but that's not what I was getting at.

What I was getting at is the Lovie Smith is an incompetent dumb ass that needs to be fired.  My greatest fear is that they'll barely win the next two games, get the sixth spot, get creamed in the Wildcard Round, and Lovie will get a contract extension.

I'd like to offer you some sort of comfort.

But that's a pretty distinct possibility.

The best thing for the Bears would be for them to fire the entire coaching staff, dump Urlacher at the end of the year (he's too pricey and slow), get a completely new offensive line, and to start drafting defensive players since the entire defense is getting old at the same time.  Oh, and maybe they can pick up a tight end that can catch and a couple of recievers that can do the same.  Marshall can't do it all by himself.  

Besides for that, I think that they are looking great.  

How do you go from 7-1 to 8-6?  The finger has to be pointed at someone and that someone is the head coach.

jets lost then,not good picking,only 2 weeks left a real battle for the playoffs now

Damn. Should of stuck with my original pick... especially in a week where I was doing so well at it. Ah well.

JETS SUCK!

I'd be 4th now had I left it alone. >:( I blame you and your fiendish ways!

Atlanta has squeaked by a lot of opponents this season, even against "weak" teams and they didn't really have a quality (dominating) win up until the Giants game.

The Giants have definitely gone cold lately and usually this is when they start getting hot, like they did during their past two superbowl runs.

If Atlanta takes the first seed, then SF/GB would most likely meet in the Division round (if they finished 2/3 and the 3 seed got past the wildcard round.) Unless one of them drops down then a conference championship game matchup would be unlikely.